Much to Pink Floyd's chagrin, and occasionally its indignation, the group has never escaped the shadow of Syd Barrett, the original "lunatic on the grass." He founded the band as a conspicuously blues-free U.K. echo of San Francisco psychedelia, as in the guitar/organ jams "Astronomy Domine"... 

 But Barrett was already cracking in the summer of 1967, one of rock's first drug burnouts and a doomed figure who barely lasted six months as a functional songwriter. "I' full of dust and guitars," Barrett once said. By A Saucerful of Secrets, he was down to the disturbing "Jugband Blue... 

 Relics was a 1971 retrospective; More and Obscured by Clouds were dull film soundtracks.  

 Without Syd, Pink Floyd struggled through a couple of miserable prog albums, Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother, the former at least padded with good 1969 live performances, including a ten-minute “Astronomy Domine.”  

 Without Syd, Pink Floyd struggled through a couple of miserable prog albums, Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother, the former at least padded with good 1969 live performances, including a ten-minute “Astronomy Domine.”  

 Relics was a 1971 retrospective; More and Obscured by Clouds were dull film soundtracks.  

 But Meddle introduced the Floyd’s mature style in the 23-minute instrumental “Echoes,” coloring the slow guitar ripples with deep-in-the-studio sonic details that only the truly baked would notice, much less appreciate.  

 Relics was a 1971 retrospective; More and Obscured by Clouds were dull film soundtracks.  

 Pink Floyd finally achieved peak “like wow man” heaviosity with Dark Side of the Moon, a meditation on death and madness that stayed on the bestseller charts for nearly 15 years. This most hip-hop of rock classics is all about flow, shifting through the headphones from stereo sine waves to sp... 

 If Barrett’s mental breakdown was the subtext of Dark Side, Wish You Were Here was an explicit tribute to their lost friend. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” was a sad space-rock elegy for Barrett, built in several long segments based around a four-note slide guitar phrase from Gilmour. The fut... 

 Animals was just a laser show looking for a soundtrack. If there’s one ironclad rule of rock & roll, it’s that songs about pigs are always lame. 

 The Wall was Waters' big autobiographical rock opera, the tale of a sensitive musician oppressed by the cold cruel world, including but not restricted to his wife, his mother, his teachers, their wives, the government, the bleeding hearts and artists, and chicks in general. If you went to hi... 

 The Wall was the last croak of vintage Floyd. A Collection of Great Dance Songs and Works were pointless "hits" collections from a band that disdained hits, and The Final Cut was basically a mediocre Waters solo album of antiwar rants. He can't sing, by the way. 

 The Wall was the last croak of vintage Floyd. A Collection of Great Dance Songs and Works were pointless "hits" collections from a band that disdained hits, and The Final Cut was basically a mediocre Waters solo album of antiwar rants. He can't sing, by the way. 

 The Wall was the last croak of vintage Floyd. A Collection of Great Dance Songs and Works were pointless “hits” collections from a band that disdained hits, and The Final Cut was basically a mediocre Waters solo album of antiwar rants. He can’t sing, by the way.  

 Floyd's subsequent studio reunions, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, are fluffy tour merch cut without Waters; the only echo of past success is the 1987 hit "Learning to Fly." 

 The Floyd have released various live albums (Pulse, Delicate Sound of Thunder, Is There Anybody Out There?), pointlessly re-creating their meticulous studio effects onstage.  

 Shine On is a redundant eight-CD box with no previously unreleased material. Oh By the Way is even more redundant, with all twelve studio albums plus two film soundtracks, though the packaging is kind of cool.  

 Floyd's subsequent studio reunions, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, are fluffy tour merch cut without Waters; the only echo of past success is the 1987 hit "Learning to Fly." 

 The Floyd have released various live albums (Pulse, Delicate Sound of Thunder, Is There Anybody Out There?), pointlessly re-creating their meticulous studio effects onstage.  

 The Floyd have released various live albums (Pulse, Delicate Sound of Thunder, Is There Anybody Out There?), pointlessly re-creating their meticulous studio effects onstage.  

 But the two-CD Echoes is an ideal career summary, with "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" segued together into a 17:32 whole, a generous helping of five ace Barrett songs, highlights from Dark Side and Wish You Were Here, all 16:31 of "Echoes," and one unbelievably bad song from The Final Cut. 

 Shine On is a redundant eight-CD box with no previously unreleased material. Oh By the Way is even more redundant, with all twelve studio albums plus two film soundtracks, though the packaging is kind of cool.